Pro-Telangana parties hold protest

On December 9, 2009, the Centre, in the wake of a fast by TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, had announced that steps would be taken to form a separate Telangana state. But following opposition to the proposal from non-Telangana regions, the Centre held that further consultations were needed on the contentious issue.

The pro-Telangana parties have started observing protest since last couple of years on December 9 to mark the day.

BJP, which is in the forefront of the separate Telangana agitation, organised a protest at the Dharna Chowk near Indira Park here today.

The ruling Congress was only playing politics over the separate statehood issue instead of taking concrete steps for its resolution, state BJP president G Kishan Reddy alleged.

He demanded that Congress president Sonia Gandhi attend the all-party meeting convened by the Centre on December 28 to discuss the Telangana issue.

CPI, which also supports the separate statehood demand, took out a protest march today.

"The Centre has convened a meeting of all parties from Andhra Pradesh on December 28. But they say that it is mainly to help the new Home Minister (Sushilkumar Shinde) to understand the issue. What happened to the previous one (Home Minister)? Is this the way?," CPI state secretary K Narayana told reporters.

Pro-Telangana workers of various other outfits also organised protests at different places in Telangana.

Meanwhile, supporters of united Andhra Pradesh also organised protests in Guntur, Visakhapatnam and other places in non-Telangana regions demanding that the Centre declare December 9 as a 'black day'.